Food scientists at Cornell University have produced a strain of broccoli that thrives in hot environments, which may make it possible for states with stiflingly hot summers to grow the vegetable. California, where cool coastal fog is perfect for growing standard broccoli, currently produces more than 90 percent of the broccoli grown in the United States. If California were to disappear, what would the American diet be like?
Expensive and grainy. California produces a sizable majority of many American fruits, vegetables, and nuts: 99 percent of artichokes, 99 percent of walnuts, 97 percent of kiwis, 97 percent of plums, 95 percent of celery, 95 percent of garlic, 89 percent of cauliflower, 71 percent of spinach, and 69 percent of carrots (and the list goes on and on). Some of this is due to climate and soil. No other state, or even a combination of states, can match California’s output per acre. Lemon yields in California, for example, are more than 50 percent higher than in Arizona. California spinach yield per acre is 60 percent higher than the national average. Without California, supply of all these products in the United States and abroad would dip, and in the first few years, a few might be nearly impossible to find. Orchard-based products in particular, such as nuts and some fruits, would take many years to spring back.
Uh, speaking of stiflingly hot summers, have you ever been to the CA San Joaquin Valley in the dead of summer?
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Where do they get most of their water to grow these things?
Much of that produce can be grown in other places. I grow enough garlic in my own backyard for a year for me and my kids.
NY state has an amazing agriculture but lots of people don’t realize it, and yes, it’s only during the summer.
But still, if push comes to shove, there are other places to take up the slack.
Living in TX, I know most of our veggies are imported from Mexico, not CA